CLUES to the NEWS

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_5835328

"GRAND MARAIS, Minn. - Authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of the west end of the Gunflint Trail on Sunday as a wildfire grew to 12.5 square miles and advanced into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota." Officials ordered about 100 people to evacuate and properites up to 33 million dollars were in danger.

This article was informative and also detailed. Twin Cities.com did a good job with using credible sources and referring to them a numerous amount of times.
I think that the reporter was challenged with choosing the relevant details.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/breakingnews/evacuation050607.htm

A smiliar story was written by the Online Journal from Daytona Beach.

"Nearly an inch of rain Sunday afternoon gave firefighters battling the Flagler County wildfire a break and postponed the need to evacuate residents - at least temporarily, officials said."
-FIrefighters are used in both stories as the main focal point of solution.
-The reporter struggled with finding relevant quotes for the story.

I think that the Twincities.com did a better job of giving more detail of the story. They also did a better job of story-telling. The news journal online was a lot more brief, but the main story of the article came across.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://news.google.com/news?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wn&q=African+dance+.

During the colonial days, African dancing was very dominate. Today African dancing is celebrated in a new generation and many people have learned that it relfects stavery strongly. Roxbury Dancers and Dance Studios over the years is promoting a African dance show that will feature dance demonstrations by Cyrus Brooks, 19, a local dancer and choreographer who was profiled recently in Dance Magazine and has choreographed works for dance troupes and theaters. African Dance is making a come back!

*I love all styles of dance so I really loved this article
* The article mainly focued on promoting African dancing. The reporter did a good job with writing a very detailed piece. You can tell the event is going to be very fun.
*I could not pinpoint a challenge that the author faced.

http://www.thestate.com/124/story/54402.html

Lanyi West African Dance Company is hosting a similar performance in South Carolina. "The company will perform a dramatic stage presentation of Cato’s Rebellion, which is based on historic events in Charleston. Cato’s Rebellion is one of the first known acts of organized rebellion against slavery in America. The revolt was led by a slave named Cato in September 1739."

*This article was brief but I think it could have had a little more detail. I think the reporter was challegned with the detail of the story
*It was short and breif. The previous article was better!

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=19726§ion=opinion

"Throughout Minnesota, we have transportation needs that no longer can be ignored. Continuing to look at them with a “blind eye� will not make traffic congestion in the Twin Cities or unsafe highways in greater Minnesota." disappear. According to the Tribune Online, means of expanding transportation has been put on hold due to "political shortsightedness." There is a unwillingnss to invest in upgrading dangerous rural roads and this is causng major problems for the state of Minnesota.

*This story was very informative and it used a lot of great sources.
*The author was challeged with choosing the relevant details for the story. There was a lot of details that she could have used but she just picked out the information that she thought would be relevant to the story.

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/4585

"As part of the Urban Partnership Agreement, the Minnesota Department of Transportation applied for a $700 million federal transportation grant that would create a high occupancy toll lane on 35W. Busses, carpoolers and motorcycles could use the lane for free, but solo drivers would pay to use the lane." This solo lane only makes dealing with traffic a lot more difficult. There needs to be a soloution to the traffic problem in Minnesota.

*This article was also challenged with picking out and using important information.
*The first article that was done by the Tribune Online was a lot more detailed and informative. I also found it a lot easier to read.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 4:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My view on the "journalism world" has changed significanlty since I have taken this class. I have learned that being a good writer takes more than being a natural story-teller or a person who loves to paint pictures in the mind of readers. Being a good writer takes a lot of patience, hard-work, and learning. It is not as easy as I thought! All throuhout highschool I have been known to my professors as "the fun writer." This class has changed my persepective on that. I have learned that story-telling and creative writing is not what the news world is all about.

Writing the news takes consistency, a research motivated additude, and a dry but bland perspective on the news. For this reason, I do not think that being a news writer is the place for me. Creative writing, such as magazine writing and editorial writing is a lot more up my alley.

It has been hard for me to change my writing style and become more of a "straight to the point" type of writer. In addition, it has been even more difficult for me to grasp the many concepts, rules, and editiing language of news writing. This has been the most difficult jounrnalism course I have ever taken and I now know that this profession is not the one for me.

If I were to place myself int he jounralism industry, I would put myself in the magazine writing category. I will never be interested or strong enough to be a news writer. In addition, I feel like my personality doesnt really fit the "mold" of a someone who can participate in news writing. It has been a rough sememster, but I now know where my place is in this industry....

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=252223

"Brews Crew" was the slogan that was placed on a maroon and gold t-shirt, that was designed to raise money for the athletic prgram. "The slogan on the front of the shirt is a play on the name of new football coach Tim Brewster, according to the shirt's producers. The words surround a football with the letter "M" on it" The prodcution of the t-shirt has now stopped, since the U. of M athletic program thinks the shirt is to related to alchohol. "Brew" may also be a slang word for beer. The Goal Line Club, printed the shirts and sold them at the spring game scrimage. The money when to the athletic program.

"We think that the word 'Brew' has a direct tie to alcohol," said Tom Wistrcill, associate athletics director. "We don't think it's in our best interest -- for the athletic department and the university - to associate ourselves with that inference to alcohol."

Pros: This story is brief but informative. The direct quotes make the story very believable.
Challenge: Getting direct quotes from the Goal LIne Club must hae beeen a challenge.

http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6422548

A similar story was written by wkbt in Wisconsin. This story was even shorter than the article written by Kare11. In fact, it is basically a short summary of the story. There are no deails at all.

Challenge: I think that the reporter was challenged with adding "life" to the story. There is no personality in the writing.
--Kare11 did a better job of gathering quotes and sources. Kare11 did a much stronger version of this story.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://english.people.com.cn/200704/23/eng20070423_369018.html

"More than 150 civilians were killed and nearly 200 others were wounded in the five-day heavy fighting ragging in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu between insurgent fighters and Ethiopian and Somali government soldiers, said hospital sources Monday." The fighting has been happening in the northwestern part of the city where artillery and machine gunfire have been happening. In the past five days, about 157 civilians have died and 196 civilians have been wounded.
--Pros:This story is well developed and well-researched.
Challenge: I think that the reporter was challenged by putting together the story structure. There are a lot of facts that needed to be in this story. Choosing the right ones would be a challenge.

http://www.shabelle.net/news/ne2657.htm

In comparison to the last story, this story written by the Shabelle news Dept, was written in a story-telling style. The other article was a lot more newsworthy. This article could be published in a magazine, due to its writing style.
I think that the Shabelle news Dept. was challenged with giving this story a "newsy" edge. However, I enjoyed this story a lot more than the last article, because it was easier to read and more enjoyable.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Many people know that turning twenty-one is a big day for college students to get extremly crazy. From experience, I know that turning the legal drinking age is just an excuse to drink a lot fo alcohol. Although there have been many stories written on this in the past, I would love to write a story about the legal drinking age and what drives students to do the things they do no their 21st birthdays.

Do you believe that the major reason students turn twenty-one is because it gives them a excuse to drink?
Does peer-pressure lead many students to drinking heavily?
About how many drinks do you think you've had on your 21st birthday?

Adrienne Yancy: 612-203-3862
Alecia Puppe: 952-240-7869
Berene Ruffin: 612-232-1439

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1120229.ht

John Mancini has been in the middle east for a week, to help organize a steak dinner for the National troops that are coming home from Iraq. Hi brother Pat is in St. Paul working working on another steak dinner in honor of the troops here in the cities. Thanks to the help of Pat Hariss, Dave Cossetta, Dan O'Gara and John Tinucci, the Mancini brothers helped to arrange 11,550 12 ounce steaks to Iraq. Thanks to the Mancini brothers, 5,000 steaks will be served to the famalies during the duration of the troops dinner. Family members will be able to contact family members throught satellite.

Pros: First off, this is one of my favorite stories. I think it is a really great idea, and I love that family members get to be invovled to. I think the reporter, Joe Kimball, did a great job of story-telling. He also did a great job of adding statistics that were relevant to the story.
Challenge: He must have been challenged with his story-telling voice. This is a light hearted story that would be easy to narrate, and sometimes telling hard facts can be difficult.

http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_5674852

This story is set up a lot differently than the first story.
Pros:This story used quotes. I thought that this was something great to add, since the first article did not do this. In fact, most of the article highlights the emotions of the people who were volunteering.
Challenge: I think Jason Hoppin struggled with quote selection along with detail. This article is very detailed an dit has a lot of information in it. I think Hoppin was challenged with cutting out information that was relevant.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/state_story.aspx?storyid=37970

"Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie said police arrested a 16-year-old boy and charged him with felony murder in the death of his eight-year-old brother in Savannah, Gerogia." Mitchell Kyle Bieber stabbed his mother, step-father, and younger brother. The mother and step-father are now in critical condition, but the brother died.

After a twelve hour manhunt, Bieber was found near his home. It has not been stated why Bieber caused harm to his family memebers. Bieber is in the Effingham County Jail.

--Pros: The subject of the story was given without any irrelevant information given.
--Cons:: This is a serious story, but there are not a lot of details on the murder. Specific quotes would have added to the story.
--Challenge: The reporter must have been challeneged by keeping the story so short. He must have had a lot of infromation that he didnt use.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/04/21/10119837.html

Adnan Mehmood has admitted to kildding both of his parents and five of his siblings. Police found skeletons of the victimes in the ground of Mehmood's home in Pakistan. Mehmood told police that he killed his family members because they were involved peverted activity. Police say that Mehmood was laughing and smiling while telling plice what he had done.

"This is the most horrific incident I have come across, as the killer does not appear to have an iota of guilt," investigating officer, Munir Ahmad Chishti, told Reuters.

This is the sickest story that I have ever heard. I can not believe that anyone would ever consider killing family. This world is a crazy place.
Pros: Unlke the other family-related murder story, this story was very informative. The reporter gave information on all of the relevant issues of the story.
Challenge: Details were very important in this article. The reporter must have been challenged to keep all of the information straight, without any fact errors. Summarizing the information must have been difficult.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/vtech.baseball.ap/

The Hokies baseball team played their first game after the rampage that took place at Virginia Tech. Although the Hokies lost 11-2 to Miami, the coach of Virgnia Tech told the reporters that the team had already won before stepping out onto the field. "It was a bittersweet feeling playing this game," outfielder Jose Cueto said. "It feels good to get out and get away from everything but the fact that we're getting away from that tragedy makes it hurt."

--Pros: This article is information on the baseball side of things
--Cons: It must of been challenging for the writer to talk to the team and get quotes for this article. This is a very sensitve subject.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/21/sports/professional/angels/0_15_104_21_07.txt

Joe Saunders, a Hokies almuni also showed his tribute during the Angels game. He wrote VT in his cleats along with writing Virginia Tech in the dirt of the mound. In addition, Saunders wores his old VT baseball hat during the enitre game. "I was nervous yesterday on our off day and I was nervous coming in just on the sheer fact of what the game meant to me, to all of Hokie Nation out there in Virginia and to my family and to this team, because we needed a win. There was a lot riding on it. ..."

---Pros: The direct quotes from Saunders, really makes a reader know exactly what he is feeling.
--Cons: I think that this reporter was also challenged with interviewing Saunders. As stated previously, it is a very sensitive subject.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 2:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6339815&nav=menu510_2

In Anchorage Alaska, a University of Alasska student was killed in a car accident on Thursday. Friends and family have put dozens of flowers at the scene of the crime.

--This story was brief and did not have a lot of details to it. Although people die everyday, it would have been nice to know more details on the event that occured.
--There are no specifc quotes from family or friends. This could add a little something
--Good use of visuals for the web page

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6256683

In Juneau Alaska, a snowfall recked a car. There are no details on this story.
--There are no quotes
--THe lead is strong

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pages/Sports/Detail?contentId=2876566&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=6.1.1

On Saturday, the Gopher football team played against eachother during tyhe Spring game. Tim Brewster, the new head coach, was praised greatly after running around the field waving to fans. But things are not looking to good for some Gopher players. Alex Daniels, E.J Jones, and Keith Massey, were taken into custody on Friday night after a 18-year-old woman told police that she was raped. Three times as many fans showed up for this Spring game this year in comparison to last year. The allegation that are being held on the three players is being looked in to.
"Obviously it's a disappointing situation that's been presented to me," Brewster said. "There's an investigation that's ongoing that we're going to cooperate fully with, and we're going to support these three young men, absolutely."

--Challenges/negatives: I would have liked to see more details on the 3 players getting arrested. A lot of the focus was on Brewster.
--Positives: There are some great quotes in this article.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070331/SPORTS/703310304/1004/SPORTS

LSU women's baskebtall coach Phokey Chapman came out as being homosexual. This article talks about the sports world accepting homosexuals slowly and it also talks about rumors of gay players on the LSU woman's team.
--Challenges/negatives: Where are the quotes from Pokey herself?
--Postives: Lead sentence is catchy.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 4:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I remember way back in the day, when the "choking game" was the coolest thing to do. Luckily, I did not partake in the cool tred, however many of my friends would "choke" eachother for fun. Kids love taking dangerous risks. In Paradise California the choking game was taken to far. At thirteen years old Gabe Mordecai died recently, due to the choking game. Gabe's twin brother Sam, found him with a rope tied around his neck.

"The first thing you think of is, 'My God, my child, he killed himself. Oh, my God.' And as soon as the thought came in my head, the thought was gone. I knew immediately what Gabriel had done. …I had no doubt in my mind," said Sarah Pacantte, Gabe's mother.

Gabe told reporters that he and his brothers had been playing the choking game for years.
http://www.enewscourier.com/entertainment/cnhinspopculture_story_088170107.html?keyword=topstor
//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/28/earlyshow/main712411.shtml

I could relate to this story on a personal level. My friends use to play the choking game all the time. There were some great quotes in this story, but I would have liked the reporter to get some more details on the death itself.

There was a similar story written in the news courier.
I enjoyed this story because it gave background information on the choking game, along wiht\
a death-related story on the choking game. The writer of this story struggled with gaining
trustworthy quotes and information. This writer also did a great job with detail.
\

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1174881942212980.xml&coll=5

Festivals are being held to promoste and encourage international diversity around the world. This is one of the coolest events I have ever seen! "It's not often that the Princeton and Lawrence communities have the chance to see a Flamenco dance performance, a Ukrainian sculpture exhibit, a lecture by an Arabic calligrapher and an international food bazaar in the same month." In the next upcoming weeks, Princeton and Rider will be offering different social events that will bring people together from all walks of life. Its a celebration of diversity!

http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2007/3/25/education/17184794

A similar story was written on the star onlne about celebrating diversity.

Things like this make me happy. Its nice to see peeople appreciate diversity, and looking at people equally. Reports did great with these stories, however, a little more detail would have made both stories a lot more informative.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 5:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/25/sri.lanka/index.html

"Tamil Tiger rebels used two light aircraft to bomb and strafe an air force base next to Colombo International Airport, killing two airmen and wounding 10 others." The rebels were aiming at Russian aircratfs and failed to hit the target and hit a military hangar instead. Two people were killed and ten people were wounded.

A smiliar story was written in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500933.html

Both stories were informative, and very trustworthy. It would have been nice to see some quotes from some of the people who were invovled in the experience.

Posted by Shara Smallwood at 4:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)